Book description
Thousands of Protestant churches are perplexed by plateaued or
declining attendance, while other congregations nearby thrive. Is there
a way for them to combine forces, drawing on both their strengths, in
ways that also increase their missional impact? Church merger consultant
Jim Tomberlin, with co-writer Warren Bird, makes the case that mergers
today work best not with two struggling churches but with a vital,
momentum-filled lead church partnering with a joining church. In this
new book, they provide a complete, practical, hands-on guide for church
leaders of both struggling and vibrant churches so that they can
understand the issues, develop strategies, and execute a variety of
forms of merger for church expansion and renewal to reinvigorate
declining churches and give them a "second life."
Jim Tomberlin, Th. M., is an ordained minister who has served
in a variety of ministries, including pioneering the multisite
strategy at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. He is the
founder of MultiSite Solutions, devoted to multisite and merger consultation.
Warren Bird, Ph. D., an ordained minister, is the research
director at Leadership Network. He has conducted numerous interviews
and surveys on topics of church restarts, church planting, multisites,
and mergers, and is the coauthor of twenty-three books including
Culture Shift, Viral Churches, and The Other 80
Percent, all from Jossey-Bass.
